Remnant
by WitheringFeniks
Summary: A sparkling loses the only remaining family she has left, only that isn't all that true as she suddenly finds herself in the care of her Creator. Now she understands why her aunt was so sad at her similarities to her Creator—to Soundwave. But being with the Decepticons might not be as bad as the Autobots claim. G1-ish verse.
1. Unexpected

**Remnant**

**SUMMARY:** A sparkling loses the only remaining family she has left, only that isn't all that true as she suddenly finds herself in the care of her Creator. Now she understands why her aunt was so sad at her similarities to her Creator—to Soundwave. But being with the Decepticons might not be as bad as the Autobots claim.

Set within the G1 universe.

**Disclaimer:** I only own OC's and my storyline.

The story inspired by _Different Pebble_ by Decepticon Chick

Characters might appear out of character but I will work on that as time goes on.

I've never written a Deception-centric story before and wanted to take a bite at it while adding a twist to it.

[**Edited:** 6/4/19—since publishing the story, I've flushed out some minor detailing with aging, so I've gone back and rewrote stuff]

**o-o-o-o-o**

**Chapter 1: **Unexpected

"Resonate."

The tiny sparkling glanced up from her playing to look at the femme that called her designation, the sparkling made a sound of confusion, unsure about the sudden addressment. The femme smiled at the sparkling with an agonized look, but the Resonate knew it wasn't aimed at her—she'd long since learned that it was because of her creator; a mech she had never meet nor knew the designation of.

The femme crouched and held out her servo, the sparkling pushed herself to her pedes and crawled into the waiting servo. The femme swooped the sparkling up into her arms and a soft purr was the response as Resonate smuggled into the warm frame.

Orange optics watched over the femme's shoulder as they walked. They lived within a neutrals' camp—one of the only few remaining but being a neutral wasn't as simple as that. Other neutrals camps invaded others and scavenge them—it was like another war going on inside the already planet-wide war.

It was only a matter of time before their camp was hit—Resonate knew that for sure.

After her carrier's offlining, she's been placed within the care of her aunt Hexen. Admittedly, she'd been a bit (putting it lightly) stubborn at first—still was at times—but she'd eased up a bit knowing that being such a bot wouldn't get her anywhere in this current world.

She might be a sparkling but she _wasn't_ dumb. She listened and observed rather than spoke most of the time—something she'd come to learn was one of the many things she'd inherited from her creator.

The front of her helm and colouring (indigo and white) were the most distinct similarities—although she herself couldn't compare since she hadn't ever met him.

And honestly?

She wasn't _all_ that bothered—she had her aunt and before that she'd had her carrier. She doubted her creator even knew she existed because she lacked any sort of parental bond with him. None, not even the _slightest_ hint.

The sound of her tanks rumbling brought her back to the present and she twisted her helm to look ahead. Hexen chuckled at the action. "Yes, we are going to get some energon, Re."

Resonate nodded, murmuring a quiet thank you in broken Cybertronian. The smooth pale red visor that covered her optics darkened as they passed a trio of mechs that had been causing Hexen some trouble recently. They'd been pestering her aunt for a frag—and it disgusted Resonate because this wasn't the time or place for such activities.

Unfortunately, she did know what frag meant—something she wished desperately that she didn't. It was something that just came with the situation.

The sound of a whistle from one of the mechs made Resonate roll her optics and Hexen ignored them, continuing to walk.

Two of the other mech snickered at the whistler's failed attempt at catching her aunt's attention. The first one called after them and Resonate allowed her mask to clamp down to hide the snarl that tugged at her lips.

(If she was older, she'd be more than willing to hurt them in some way—in what way she wasn't sure exactly, she just knew she'd cause them some pain.)

Hexen still didn't pay them any attention, something that made Resonate wonder if her aunt had experienced it before the war had broken out, and thankfully they reached the energon ration stand without any further trouble. But Resaonte wiggled her digits in some vain attempt to stop the way her spark fluttered with nervously as she was going to be forced to drink normal-grade—something sparklings weren't supposed to drink.

The camp didn't have the right recourses to be able to make her a low-grade every solar-cycle and the time between was getting longer and longer—it made her tank feel upset for a few joors and it was often accompanied with nausea with the higher and higher chance of her just purging it back up again.

Resonate didn't doubt it was because her tank was reaching its limits—she wouldn't be able to keep any down soon and she'd get even worst, she wasn't sure what would happen them but all she did know, was that it wouldn't be good.

It was worrying her aunt more then she let on—Resonate played dumb but she had the suspicion Hexen knew that she knew.

The mech at the stand smiled and handed them their energon and even the idea of downing the liquid made her tank twist with unease.

She resisted the urge to whine in distress as she forced herself to drink.

Hexen gently rubbed up and down her back strut and Resonate allowed a sound between a whine and purr escape.

Then—

_BOOM_

The ground shook and screams followed. There were shouting and gunfire. Resonate felt her frame tense, plating clamping down in distress at the sounds bombarding her audio receptors.

Instinctively she dropped her cube and covered her audio receptors in a weak attempt to block the sound out. A panicked warble escaped.

Hexen hissed and also dropped her energon cube in favour of rushing off in the direction that the explosions were the quietest in an attempt to flee the scene.

The next several breems happened fast and with flashes of bright lights that left Resonate's optics stinging, she remembered Hexen setting her down, drawing her blaster and firing at bots all the while making sure Resonate was hiding and clutching at her leg.

There was another explosion close by—too close and the duo went flying.

Her helm jarringly hit the ground and she was sure something within it rattled. She blinked, shuddering her optics in an attempt to clear them. Her entire frame _hurt_.

She whimpered; reaching out and trying to drag herself towards the green and white frame of Hexen. The femme was pushing herself up, helm snapping towards Resonate and scrambled towards the sparkling.

Resonate whined lowly as Hexen lifted her. The sparkling easily spotted the energon on her aunt's frame—it was dripping badly.

Resonate did a quick system scan—they weren't very good and could only tell her the basics but thankfully she only had superficial wounds at best. Nothing serious—nothing like Hexen.

The thought sent panic through her.

She couldn't lose anyone else!

Hexen turned sharply and fired her gun. Resonate heard the sound of a frame hitting the ground heavily. Then Hexen was running and Resonate could feel the way her aunt flinched and winced at every movement.

**o-o-o-o-o**

At some point, the explosions and fighting between the neutrals had died down and Hexen couldn't run anymore. She set the tiny sparkling down and allowed herself to slide down the piece of rubble to sit.

Resonate chirred quietly, regressing to sparkling-dialect in her distress. In some weak and pitiful attempt to stop the leaking, Resonate tried to cover Hexen's wound with her tiny servos and put pressure on the worst one but it did nothing to stop the energon from seeping through her digits and staining them.

A more distressed cheep escaped and Hexen gently caressed her helm. "Shhh darling."

Then in the near distance, there was sound, Hexen tensed as two seekers flew overhead. _Decepticons._

"Resonate." Hexen wheezed. The sparkling glanced up at her. "Hide, and don't come out no matter what, you understand?"

Resonate clicked once more but nodded. Her mask and visor hid her frown and worried expression as she did as asked. She looked left, then right as she scanned the area before her optics landed on some debris that she was small enough to hide behind. She crawled into the gap and managed to manoeuvre herself to be able to see her aunt still.

The sparkling flinched as the sound of multiple pedes got closer and closer to their location. Eventually, they stopped and Resonate dared a look to see a large grey mech with red optics. To his right was a red seeker and to his left was a grounder—faceplate hidden by a red visor and mouthguard.

She found herself frowning—what was it about the indigo and white mech that made him seem… familiar?

She pushed that thought aside and focused back onto the towering grey mech (he was the tallest, but she had to crank her neck for all three) as he crossed his arms, looking down at her aunt.

"Hexen." He greeted—his voice was gravelly. But what made Resonate curious was that they _knew_ her aunt.

"Megatron." Hexen answered with a humourless chuckle.

_Megatron?_ Resonate bit her lip—he was the leader of the Decepticons. Then… the red seeker was Starscream? It must be—it was only logical after all. The Leader never went anywhere without his Second in Command.

"To be truthful." Megatron continued and it snapped Resonate back to the conversation. "I hadn't expected to see you within a neutral camp."

Hexen scoffed. "Well, plans change."

She happened, Resonate realised.

"And what would those plans be?" Starscream questioned, a smirk curling into his lips. "You seemed pretty hellbent on being Autoscum."

Hexen set her head back against the rubble. Resonate didn't need to see her faceplate to know she held a sardonic smile. "My sister was murdered."

The indigo and white mech's frame gave an aborted flinch. It made Resonate frown again.

"Well that got you here and leaking, now didn't it. How close are you to offlining?" Starscream sneered.

Hexen snarled back. "Watch it 'Screamer, I think you'll find I have enough to at least take you with me if you don't shut that trap of yours."

Resonate felt her lips quirk upwards before forcing herself to keep a straight expression.

Megatron gave a hissy chuckle. "What is the real reason, Hexen."

Hexen said nothing and it set Resonate on edge, the sparkling shuffled in her spot. Megatron crouched, a cruel smile curling onto his lips. "Come now, old friend."

Hexen vented, hitting her helm against the rubble she was leaning on. She turned her helm in Resonate's direction. No words needed.

Resonate moved forward. Her movement caught all three Decepticon's attention.

She poked her head out and all three froze at the sight off her.

"T-that's impossible, right?" Starscream stuttered, then glanced between the two other mechs when neither answered. "…_Right?"_

"Resonate." Hexen spoke, and so she crawled the entire way out of her hiding spot.

She was tiny (they were so, so, _so_ tall) compared to the three mechs but it didn't deter her from staring them down, biting back the curious chirp that wanted to escape.

Megatron chuckled, glancing to the other mech that hadn't spoken a word. "Soundwave?"

Resonate pursed her lips, using the chance to take in his frame and—

It wasn't possible, right?

…_Right?_

Now she was sounding like Starscream, she silently scoffed.

Resonate turned her optics back onto her aunt and crawled back to her side, clicking once.

"Fine." Was all Hexen said—but they both knew it was a lie. Resonate tilted her head, and Hexen scoffed. "Don't give me that look."

Resonate continued to frown, pouting.

"So this is the reason then?"

Ah, right—Resonate nearly forgot about them for a moment. She turned her visor back to Megatron to see his own optics on her. Even crouched he was still over double her size—it made her tug her field close to hide her sudden wariness and fear at the fact he could easily harm her if he wished.

"Yes." Hexen hissed. "I've been caring for her the last three stellar-cycles."

Soundwave crouched suddenly, Resonate snapped her gaze to him. "Age?"

Resonate's digits twitched, curling in her lap, visor darkening before lighting again once she realised she'd done so. "Ten stellar-cycles."

He vented quietly, Resonate found it was a bit odd because of his previous stoic exterior.

For a moment, the femmeling thought he was going to reach out to her but he didn't, so she turned her attention onto her aunt, dismissing the three Decepticons altogether.

She chirped again; she wasn't sure what was going to happened now. Hexen was slowly leaking out and if she didn't get any medical attention…

Hexen vented and set a servo on Resonate's helm.

_~Auntie?~_ Resonate asked over the faux bond. Hexen's optics were slowly dimming and it was setting the sparkling more on edge each astrosecond.

The green and white femme hissed sudden, not answering Resonate, and instead turned to Soundwave. She didn't speak aloud—doing so over her commlink and so Resonate had no idea what was being said but Soundwave straightened his back strut a moment later.

"As you wish." He answered and held his servos out to Resonate. "Come."

Resonate eyes him warily but Hexen nudging her made the sparkling move. She shuffled into the waiting servos and they curled around her frame, where he lifted her as if she weighed nothing (it was likely so, she _was_ tiny after all).

It was odd—she'd never been held by a mech before, but as he held her against his chassis and her audio receptors picked up the quiet hum of his spark behind his armour, she felt at ease.

Her frame slowly loosened until she lay limply in his arms and a soft purr escaped her vocal processor.

At the back of her processor, as she dropped into recharge, she was aware of the fledging Creator-Creation bond being created between them.

And honestly?

She _wasn't_ angry at the turn of events, even though she not been bothered about her creator's existence not even two joors ago.

Huh.

**o-o-o-o-o**

**For Resonate, I picture her having a voice similar to that of GLaDOS from Portal, only younger.**

**Joor: ~1 hour**

**Astrosecond: **.498 seconds

**Stellar-cycle: ~7.5 months (Cybertronian year)**

**_~Bond speak.~_**

**Thoughts?**


	2. Another Point of View

**This story is more of a side-story I'm working on while planning/writing my other pieces, so, therefore, it's gonna be a 'short story' of sorts and at the moment, I've got twenty chapters planned (give or take) with a small plot in mind.**

**I forgot to mention this in the first chapter, but it doesn't mean I won't be putting as much as effort as my other stories, it just means chapters will be much shorter than my average.**

**I'm also working on a cover image of Resonate herself, instead of the current one of chibi Soundwave and Ravage.**

**anyway, now that ramble is out of the way, I hope you enjoy x**

**[Edited: 6/4/19]**

**o-o-o-o-o**

**Chapter 2:** Another Point of View

Their meeting was what some might call fate; there wasn't anything else _he'd_ call it personally. Had either of them not been there that day, then their entire history would have turned out completely different than it had.

He was introduced to his Bondmate-to-be because of Megatron (Megatronous still at that time) and Orion Pax (better known as Optimus Prime now). The duo had invited him to join them as they went to visit a long-time friend of Orion.

That femme's designation was Influx.

She was a calm and gentle femme with no biases to any social classes. She'd mingle with all—Soundwave found it a bit funny truthfully, who'd think such a dainty femme kept gladiators as company?

At their first meeting, he was also introduced to three of his future partners: Ravage and the twins, Rumble and Frenzy.

She had taken the twins in after having had a run in with them while they'd been avoiding returning to the orphanage they'd lived in. Before either of the three realised, she'd have them over for joors at a time for company and to make sure they stayed out of trouble. Then it progressed into Influx adopting them. They came into her care when they'd only been twenty-two stellar-cycles into their youngling frames.

Ravage, on the other hand, had been with her since early in her life. He'd been her carrier's partner before her offlining.

Ravage had taken charge-ship of her when she was sent to live with her creator as her older brother and sister weren't in the right situation to take her in.

They were practically a familial unit.

It wasn't love at first sight, although he had felt the desire to get to know the femme. There was something that drew him to her, maybe it was the way she carried herself or even just her more engaging personality.

It was what got the twins to behave—they respected the femme they'd admitted to seeing as a carrier when she'd not been in the room. They were troublesome and mischievous but that disappeared as soon as she warned them.

He came to find that they loved to cause trouble for those that made Influx's day just that bit more stressful on top of her already large workload.

Loyal and more than willing to cause strife. A good healthy combination.

But it caused Ravage grief more often than not as he would have to quickly rush around and set things straight in case they took it too far.

It was amusing to witness in person.

But the moment that Soundwave realised that perhaps what he felt for Influx was more than just friendship was when she'd come to him to ask a favour; asking if he could pretend to be her Intended so that her creator would stop trying to set her up with some upper-class bots.

He remembers as her servo hooked onto his arm as they approached the house in which the party would be held. He remembers the way that her creator had looked at her when she'd walked in with him.

Loathing and well-hidden anger.

Then at him with distaste and haughtiness.

That night, once he'd seen a stressed and tired Influx home, he paid her creator a visit. It wasn't like him in all honesty, but all he knew he needed to do was make her creator _back the frag up_. Threats and promises for harm were made before the mech conceded, the threat on his pitiful life enough to _convince_ him.

They'd known each other for three stellar-cycles before they Bonded and a deca-cycle later the tension was at an all-time high. Orion was announced Optimus Prime not too long after and that seemed to set everything off.

And Influx left with the new Prime.

He felt her despondent, confusion, helplessness, and anguish at the turn of events because he had backed Megatron.

His actions cost him his Bonded because she'd shut their bond so tightly that he hardly felt her.

When he thinks about to it, he could remember her cheerfulness earlier that day and that she'd been excited to share some news with him.

News which took the form of the femme sparkling that slowly climbed out from behind the piece of rubble.

She was small (so, so, so small—she could fit in the palm of his servo) and her colours were duller then it should be, possibly suffering from lack of energon her frame needed early in life. But he knew without a doubt she was his—even had she not bore his colours or appearances as drastically as she did.

His spark tightened and quivered because she had to be at least nine stellar-cycles and that meant Influx had been carrying when the war officially broke out.

He shut off his vocal processor to stop to choking sound that wanted to escape.

"So this is the reason then?" Megatron's voice snapped him back to the present—he had to find out if—

"Yes." Hexen hissed. "I've been caring for her the last three stellar-cycles."

Since Influx's death.

He crouched and his sparkling's—_his Resonate's_—helm snapped to him. "Age."

A series of waves hit him _Protect-Shelter-Heal-Feed-Nestle-Nurture-Cultivate_. He'd never felt anything like it before—never felt such a desire to pull his sparkling close and never let her leave his sight. It was almost completely overwhelming.

Her visor flickered darker in what he could only guess was a defensive motion. But it lightened moments after she seemed to realise she'd done it and Soundwave could understand why people were annoyed at his constant use of his mouth guard because he couldn't tell what she was feeling—her field was pulled tightly close and he was hesitant to brush his against hers for a response.

"Ten stellar-cycles."

He let out a heavily vent because that just confirmed his thoughts that she was underdeveloped.

His mind whispered at how he had to fix it, heal her, not allow any more harm to come to her.

Was this what being a creator felt like?

His spark gave a firm nod—of course, sparks couldn't actually nod but it sure felt like it. His digits itched to reach out and pull his sparkling close, but he bit his glossa because he was unsure of how she'd respond.

But Resonate's attention left him almost instantly once they'd finished their 'conversation' and it felt like someone had shoved their servo through his chassis at the dismissal.

She chirped as she crawled closer to the white and green femme. Hexen rested a servo on _his_ sparkling's helm.

Hexen gave a hissy vent and turned her orange optics onto his. He felt a ping to his comm.

=I don't care what Influx told me, but I'm dying, so you're going to take Resonate and you're going to care for her, got it?= Hexen hissed.

=You expect me to not?= he rumbled back, biting the need to snarl at the notion he'd leave his sparkling for dead.

Hexen narrowed her optics. =Well you're a Decepticon, aren't you?=

Low blow. It really was but he had a comeback.

=Being a Decepticon doesn't mean I wouldn't care for _my_ sparkling.= He snarled.

=Just take her, Soundwave.= Hexen sounded defeated. =I did my best for Influx but you can see where that got me—I've always been the most useless out of my siblings.= she gave a self-deprecating chuckle.

Soundwave turned his optics to Resonate as she glanced back and forth between them. "As you wish." He held his servos out to Resonate. "Come."

She eyed him warily, her field fluttering with the corresponding emotions but Hexen nudged her forwards. Resonate shuffled into his waiting servos and they practically dwarfed her entire frame. Soundwave lifted her and his sparkling was so, so, so light—it made him worry.

He rested her against his chassis as slowly but surely her frame lost all tenseness as a purr escaped. Soundwave smiled as he reached out to form his creator bond with her—her spark more than willing to grasp at the offered bond that had long since been vacant and waiting for such.

He ignored the outside world in favour of feeling the fledgeling bond had now shared with his Creation. It would take time to strength—luckily he didn't plan to set his sparkling down anytime soon.

She was perfectly fine where she was, thank you very much.

His optics returned to Megatron as the mech stood once more, then his gaze drifted onto Hexen who had finally offlined while he'd been busy feeling the bond.

Hexen had always disliked him—even before he and Influx had gotten together. He'd never understood her reasons and his chance to ask her was gone. He vented and glanced back to his Master, who was already looking at him.

"Let us return."

Yes, lets.

**o-o-o-o-o**

While he wanted to introduce his sparkling to her brothers as soon as possible knowing they'd be just as excited about her existences, he knew logically that it would have to wait because a) all were currently out on reconnaissance and b) he was unsure about how she'd react to them.

Perhaps one at a time would be most appropriate.

So he returned to his work station, his sparkling never once moved from her stop against his chassis.

Once she awoke, it would be a visit to Shockwave for energon and a check-up.

**o-o-o-o-o**

stellar-cycle: ~7.5 months (Cybertronian year)

Deca-cycle: ~3 weeks


	3. A Doctor's Visit

**[Edited: 6/4/19]**

**Chapter 3:** A Doctor's Visit

**o-o-o-o-o**

Resonate came out of recharge slowly and quite possibly the most relaxed she'd ever felt in her ten stellar-cycles; so relaxed that she couldn't stop, didn't _want_ to stop, the soft purr as she snuggled into the warmth, wanting to return to recharge like never before. But with heavily optic-lids she blinked, only to grimace and bury her face back within the warm neck of her creator, who turned his attention away from his computer at her movement.

Resonate gave a jaw-popping yawn, purring again as Soundwave gently rubbed her back struts. She felt a pulse of adoration filter over and chirped in response.

"Inquiry: Resonate hungry?" Soundwave asked. She blinked and nodded, a hungry mewl followed.

Soundwave turned away from his work station and made for the door. When it opened Resonate hissed lowly, the hallway light far brighter than the previous. She dimmed her visor in response to the change in brightness and she used the chance to watch their surroundings as they manoeuvred through the base.

The Decepticons they passed didn't even bother trying to be subtle about their gawking at the sight of them. Soundwave ignored them—if her creator didn't deem them important enough for acknowledgement, then she shouldn't worry herself either.

The journey to where ever it was they were going lasted roughly a breem and, during that time, Resonate drifted back into the edges of recharge. Recharge had always been an issue for the sparkling after her carrier's offlining—some part at the back of her processor feared that Hexen would vanish when she'd awaken…

But that had happened now, though—it confused Resonate for a nano-klik because Hexen wasn't here and she couldn't feel her…

Resonate vented.

The sparkling lifted her helm, her digits tightening their grip on Soundwave's armour as she glanced up at him. He returned the glance.

"Hexen?" Resonate chittered.

"Offline."

Resonate vented again, resting her helm back onto her creator's shoulder. He sent a pulse of reassurance and peace to his sparkling at her twang of sadness.

"She is one with the All-Spark and—" his grip tightened. "Has been reunited with your carrier."

Resonate purred.

Conversation from there was stagnant until they reached their destination and Resonate lifted her helm once more in confusion as they entered a lab—she'd never seen such a place before and it piped her curiosity. The purple mech that stood at a computer at the far back turned at their entrance.

Resonate blinked at the purple mech—he only had one optic.

"Soundwave." The single-opticed mech greeted.

"Shockwave." Her creator returned.

Shockwave turned his attention to the femmeling within the communications commander's arms. "And you must be Resonate, correct?"

The sparkling's visor flashed with her curiosity, and she nodded.

Soundwave moved again and Resonate was set down on a berth. She blinked up at her creator in confusion but at Shockwave's approach, turned her attention to him. The scientist held out a cube of low-grade energon for Resonate to take and she did just that, chirping out a thank you as she slid back her mouth guard.

She probably shouldn't have started downing the liquid, albeit she couldn't help herself—she hadn't had anything her tanks could take for half an orn.

Resonate hadn't even gotten halfway through the energon before she was forced to stop, pulling the cube away just in time to purge what she'd drank back up. It spilt from her mouth and her tank gave that familiar tight squeezing feeling. Just as she brought up another round of energon, she was lifted to her pedes and out of the splash of the liquid.

She whined at the uncomfortable feeling, squirming in her Creator's hold as she panted, vented, harshly in an attempt to ease the feeling.

A bucket was placed under her chin just as the third and finally spew of vomit came. Shockwave held the bucket there even after she'd stop purging.

(The purging wasn't something he'd calculated and it took him astrosecond to long to act in time to catch the second purge of energon. He'd be frowning if he could—what was the cause?)

Shockwave tilted his helm as he removed the bucket and set it on the berth to instead grab a cloth to give to Soundwave so he could clean his sparkling. Before Shockwave could speak, Resonate beat him to it.

"Sowie." Her speech was slurred.

"No apologies necessary." Shockwave rebutted. The sparkling blinked up at him, her red visor almost completely clear, which revealed her orange optics—optics she'd inherited from her Carrier.

"Shouldn'ta downed teh energon thou—" Static. "—hadn't go'd energon in while." She answered.

Shockwave tilted his helm. "When was the last time you had low-grade energon?"

Resonate blinked, face-plate scrunching up as she tried to recall. "Halfa orn. Hadda drink normal grad—" More static. "—'cause the neutral camp weren't able to make et."

Shockwave vented heavily, turning his gaze to Soundwave. "I would like to do an in-depth scan to see if she has any internal damaging. The static is a bit worrying also."

Soundwave nodded stiffly—Shockwave had known Soundwave long enough to know he was put on edge at the information—and set Resonate back onto the berth, pushing her onto her back with light pressure and she went willingly as the indigo and white mech stepped back.

The scan took several nano-kliks and once it was done, Resonate was back within her creator's arms and she curled into the warmth his frame provided. The heat that radiated from him helped ease that after-purge feeling in her tank.

Shockwave hummed, and Soundwave stiffly turned his helm towards the scientist as the touch of concern that lit the sound.

"There seems to be no severe problems regarding her tanks, just some light issues regarding having to take normal-grade. It should resolve itself over time with the bonus of not having to take the grade anymore." Shockwave voiced. Soundwave's frame lost a bit of its tension. "However, because she _has_ been ingesting normal grade, there is some almost superficial scarring, not enough to cause problems later down the line but for others who do more in-depth scans to know something happened."

"So good?" Resonate questioned.

Shockwave nodded. "Yes, I just suggest you drink slower for the time being also."

Resonate ducked her helm in embarrassment—her fans kicked in and she further tried to hide herself. She felt her creator's amusement wave over and, _no_—_this isn't funny!_

_~Resonate: amusing~_

She rubbed her cheek's as she felt them heat up, no doubt they were burning blue.

"Inquiry: Resonate's vocal processor?" Soundwave turned his attention back onto Shockwave, who glanced back up from his data-pad.

"Likely from lack of use." He theorized. "You do not speak often, correct?"

Resonate blinked at him but nodded. "Purfur to lis'en."

Shockwave tilted his head, then turned his optic to Soundwave. "Like your Creator."

Really?

_~Affirmative. I am the communications officer, my job is surveillance—I find it beneficial to observe and wait before acting.~_

Resonate's optics widened comically. _~So smart?~_

She felt his flutter of amusement again. _~Yes, I am intelligent, my sparkling.~_

**o-o-o-o-o**

Steller-cycle: ~7.5 months (Cybertronian year)

Nano-klik: ~1 second

Orn: 13 days

Astrosecond: .498 seconds

=Comm links=

_~All types of Bond Speech~_


	4. Meeting the Family

**Another shortie, but I wasn't expecting it to be much longer when planning chapters. Hope you enjoy.**

**Chapter 4:** Meeting the family

Or an alternate title could be: _Guilt, Glitching, Mischief, and… Bubba?_

_**[Edit:7/4/19]**_

**o-o-o-o-o**

It was Ravage first. The large feline had been commed to come and meet him at their berthroom; he did so willingly, mostly confused at the request for just him. But what really piped Ravage's curiosity was the soft and almost happy emotions his partner was feeling—it had been a long time since Soundwave had felt like this.

The door hissed open and before Ravage even took a step in, he realised there was someone else in there with Soundwave. His red optics rose, peering around Soundwave's large and towering form to the berth behind him where they landed on the—

_Sparking._

It was a femmeling—his eyes sharpened then widened in disbelief as the colours and helm clicked in his processor.

The sparkling was Soundwave's—and ultimately _Influx's._

Ravage slinked forward with renewed curiosity. _~Is that who I think it is?~_ he whispered.

_~Affirmative.~_

The sparkling blinked at him, matching his own interest. Ravage leapt up onto the berth without hesitation and began sniffing the sparkling, who giggled at the action. Ravage lay down in a heavy motion as he allowed the sparkling to touch his face, cooing with her intrusiveness. He rumbled a purr in return.

_~Her designation?~_

_~Resonate.~_

_Well hello, Resonate_, is what Ravage wanted to say but unfortunately, he couldn't physically speak. One of the few times he so desperately wanted too. Damn his model.

He butted his forehead into Resonate's chassis with light and playful motions and she giggled once more. It was a sound Ravage never thought he'd get to hear again—it reminded him so much of when Influx had been a sparkling.

Of when he had been Influx's carrier's companion—he'd served their family for five generations before partnering with Soundwave when the war broke out. He was (always would be) loyal to them—but he absolutely _despised_ Influx's creator, a stuck up and 'I'm far superior then you' rich mech. He never understood how Steeldust had fallen for the bastard, the bastard was never the most caring bot, only really caring about making Steeldust into the perfect trophy Bondmate—she left her enforcer job because he deemed it degrading for a femme to be doing such a thing.

So when she took her own life—well, Ravage wasn't all the surprised, but sometimes he could still hear her parting words and they haunted him. _"Protect Influx, my friend, please—do it as your last order from me."_

But he'd failed that, hadn't he?

**o-o-o-o-o**

Lazerbeak and Ratbat were next, and much like Ravage, were lightly confused at the request. As they made the journey, Ratbat made comments, wondering aloud what Soundwave wanted from the odd request to come to their berthroom.

Lazerbeak groaned in annoyed. "Would you shut up, Ratbat? We'll find out in a few kilks!"

Ratbat rolled his optics but snickered. "Come now, Beaky. What's the harm with some healthy theorizing?"

Lazerbeak just gave the pink cyber-bat a look of distaste.

The door hissed open and Ratbat flew in first. "What's up, Sound—?"

He cut himself off, stalling mid-air and it took a nano-kilk to catch himself.

Lazerbeak scoffed. "What is it this time, Ratbat?" He followed Rabat's optics to the berth where Ravage was laying but that wasn't it.

Oh, _now_ Lazerbeak understood the stalling his brother-in-arms did.

There was a sparkling on the berth, a sparkling who blinked up at them through a red semi-clear visor. Lazerbeak landed on the edge of the berth in confusion—unlike Ravage, Lazerbeak hadn't known Influx for as long as the panther had and so the realisation didn't click for him until Ratbat himself squeaked it out.

"You've got a sparkling, Soundwave!" Ratbat gaped and followed Lazerbeak's example with landing on the berth, only he hopped closer to the sparkling. "Why didn't you tell me you and Influx had a sparkling!"

Lazerbeak glitched, falling backwards off the edge.

Resonate mewled in horror as Lazerbeak when crashing to the floor, would have hit it had Soundwave not moved quickly enough.

Ratbat laughed and perched beside the sparkling and Ravage, turning his optics back onto the femmeling as his laughter drew to an end. "What's your designation, beautiful?"

"Res'ate." She answered, lips pursing at her failed attempt to say her own designation.

Ratbat giggled with giddy excitement. "Resonate, huh? Well, I'm Ratbat."

Resonate tilted her helm, turning to look at the still unconscious Lazerbeak "Him?"

Ratbat gained a mischievous glint in his optics. "Him? His designation his Beaky."

"Beaky?"

Soundwave's amusement flickered to life.

"Yes."

Lazerbeak groaned a second later and their optics went back to him. He shook his helm and got back to his pedes. He lifted his helm, turning to look at the sparkling then to his deployer. "Is she yours?"

Soundwave nodded. "Ten stellar-cycles."

Lazerbeak vented soft, she was young—had to be one of the last sparklings born since the war. He watched for a moment as Resonate clicked and whirled with Ratbat, who returned the gesture with his own non-worded clicks. "Where did you find her?"

"Resonate: located at Neutrals camp in Hexen's care."

Lazerbeak hissed. "How she get into Hexen's care?"

"Likely by Influx herself." Soundwave answered, voice lowering. "I suspect Hexen left after her death in some attempt to protect my sparkling."

"Beaky!" Resonate clicked, trying to get Lazerbeak's attention.

Lazerbeak threw Ratbat a dirty look, the pink cassette laughed.

**o-o-o-o-o**

Whatever Soundwave wanted to show them all, they were last. And Frenzy pouted because he hated being last while Rumble just smirked in amusement—didn't really matter being last to him, because they were all going eventually.

"Stop your pouting, would ya?" Rumble shoved his brother's shoulder.

Frenzy huffed. "Why are _we_ last?"

"Cause Soundwave doesn't give a damn about ordering?" Rumble answered, lips curling upwards in amusement.

"Whatever."

They continued to banter back and forth as they approached the door in the same fashion as the previous three. The door slid open and neither of them were paying any real attention. They optics somehow managed to completely miss the sparkling sat in the middle of the group settled on the berth.

"Hey, boss." Rumble greeted in a nonchalantly.

"What's up with the weird meeting thing?" Frenzy asked.

Ratbat giggled, Lazerbeak vented and Ravage rolled his optics.

Soundwave simply tilted his helm in the direction of his other cassette and so the twins followed. The red visor stood out against the colourful combination of beings on the berth.

Rumble acknowledge that the sight was a bit funny before realising there was one on the bed he, or Frenzy, didn't recognise. They were smaller than _them_, that was all they knew.

Frenzy was first to move, approaching the berth. "Uhh, is that a sparkling?"

"Affirmative, she is your sister. Designation: Resonate." Soundwave answered, and their optics widened.

_Sister?!_

They were at the edge of the berth in a astrosecond, staring down at the femmeling who blinked up at them with large and adorable orange optics.

Orange optics they would know anywhere.

Disbelief flooded their twin bond.

"Influx was carrying?" Rumble choked out, optics stinging as his sight began to distort. Frenzy sucked in a sharp vent and struggled to release it.

"Hi." Resonate chittered softly.

Frenzy collected himself first. "Hi." He laughed breathlessly. "Designation's Frenzy, my twin's is Rumble."

Rumble nodded mutely, shuddering his optics rapidly in attempts to get rid of his tears because they never thought they would get a chance like this after Influx left with Prime. Influx and Soundwave had mentioned a possible sibling but with the tension at a high and possibly war, it wasn't something they felt would be right.

To bring a sparkling into the world during a war was like signing the sparkling's and your death certificates.

Yet here she was—a femmeling that they had lost time spoiling and protecting.

Rumble started laughing suddenly—he couldn't help it. He clutched his helm in his servos as he tried to stop his processor from spinning and frame shaking. When he finally collected himself, waving off the concern from the bonds he shared with Soundwave and brothers-in-arms, he turned to the sparkling who blinked up at him.

"Well, then Bubba-girl." He grinned, it was shaky and nervous but did he try his damn best not to let it affect the smile. "Welcome to the family."

Resonate gave a doopy smile

**o-o-o-o-o**

**When researching, 'Bubba' has quite a few different possible meanings but it's a term my parents call my younger sister in an affection way—I've always liked the nickname of sorts and so decided it would be the twins' nickname for Resonate.**

**Bubba and Bubs will be the main ones but there will be others ;)**


	5. Red Fluffy Blanket

**Another chapter, whoop, whoop! This one is focusing on Rumble as they welcome Resonate into their family. Hope you enjoy!**

**[Edit: 7/4/19]**

**o-o-o-o-o**

**Chapter 5:** Red Fluffy Blanket

They'd fallen into a routine of such—Rumble noticed with gleeful delight. His sparkling sister had been with them for only half of an orn and their unit had begun to show a similar pattern each solar-cycle. It would start with them rising that morning, where they'd begin the cycle by shaking off their recharge and going to get Energon. Resonate would socialize with a few 'Cons that happened to develop a soft spot for the odd little femmeling that fit in the palm of their servos before returning to their quarters where Soundwave had taken to working so that he could watch over Resonate.

And while his step-creator knew she could be trusted in their care while he worked, it was obvious a part of him wasn't ready for that yet. It was kind of… _adorable_—and he didn't think that often!

And because he, his brother, and their brother-in-arms step most of the day doing nothing when not out on missions, they now spent it entertaining Resonate with toys that Starscream surprisingly gave them.

(The Trine leader had huffed slightly as he'd handed them off, saying something along the lines of: "Best way to keep her _out_ of the way." It was a lie, he'd thought snickering, but Rumble wasn't gonna hold it against him, especially considering Seekers were known for their care of the young, no matter the type of sparkling.

He certainly didn't miss the way Starscream's optics lightened when Resonate had chirped out a thank you.)

When it came to mid-cycle, they would have their lunch, where Resonate tended to fall asleep mid-drink so Soundwave had taken to cradling her in his arms to hold the sippy-cup (Shockwave made it; Resonate had blinked at the object when she'd first seen it before nibbling on it in confusion. The look on her face-plate when Energon had come out was amusing).

Because sparklings required more recharge then final frames and younglings, the mid-cycle nap Resonate typically fell into was perfect timing. Soundwave would set her on their now shared berth, where Ravage would leap onto it and curl around the napping sparkling.

She'd recharge for several joors before awakening and then Frenzy and he would take her around the base—while Resonate tried walking most of the time, her frame couldn't yet support her walking for much more than a breem and she'd be forced to crawl onwards. She often go frustrated about it and they'd have to distract her before the tears appeared.

They carried her from there to the next locations, ranging from the rec-room, the main deck, and other random places to help get her familiar with the base. The rec-room and main deck seemed to be her favour place as most bots she'd become familiar with tended to hover around those areas for both work and relaxing.

It had surprised the twins when Megatron had become fond of her, often sitting the tiny femmeling on his shoulder as he explained things—nothing about the war, no, in was about their carrier. It had left them flabbergasted momentarily because while Megatron hadn't known Influx for as long as the Prime had, he still knew plenty.

They hadn't known he'd thought so highly of the femme—but they couldn't deny most tended to find Influx an easy bot to be around, her entire demeanour practically drew bots in. Sometimes that also meant unwanted attention, as annoying as it was—Ravage warded away most, they were often intimated by the large cyber-panther that Influx took with her almost everywhere when she stepped outside by herself.

(She wasn't stupid—she'd noticed the undesirable attention not to long after reaching her final frame. She _did _have a naturally gorgeous, well-proportioned frame, so it was obvious she'd get some stares. It was something that she inherited from her Creator, surprisingly enough.)

But, as Rumble watched on fondly as Megatron told Resonate about how their carrier often fretted and patched them up an uncountable amount of times after Pit fights, he found himself coming to a decision. His digits could almost feel the red material that he kept in his subspace, not having taken it out since his step-carrier's offlining. He didn't have the spark.

He vented, the blanket had been a gift from Influx on his and his brother's birthday the first stellar-cycle they'd been with her. Frenzy had gotten a matching blue one but he'd long since outgrown his. He'd gotten Influx to give it to a family friend who'd recently had their own sparkling.

He found himself wanting to pull the blanket out and throw it over his sister's frame for her to curl up in like he'd done so many time before as a younger younging. He wanted to scoff as the brief thought of not getting his final frame for another fifty stellar-cycles annoyed him. He was ready damnit!

He shook that thought off quickly as Resonate yawned and he heard the quiet chuckle from Megatron. Frenzy was the one to approach and take her from their leader's servos. His brother murmured something about sparkling's needing their recharge, to which Resonate reached up and whacked his face-plate in a heartsparked gesture. Frenzy snickered.

The trio returned to their berthroom, Soundwave glancing at them as they entered. He nodded, sending a burst of affection to them before turning back to his computer. Resonate softly purred in response, Frenzy rumbled in response to _her_ as he put her on the berth she and Soundwave shared.

His digits twitched again. Perhaps it was time to give his own blanket away.

With that thought Rumble approached the berth, his brother looking up at him questioningly as he did but Rumble paid him no attention as he tugged the soft material from his subspace and draped it over their sister.

Orange optics blinked sleepily up at him as she snuggled, cocooned, into it, softly murmuring, in broken Cybertronian, a thank you. He rumbled in return.

**o-o-o-o-o**

Joor: ~1 hour

Breem: ~8.2 minutes

Orn: 13 days

Solar-Cycle: 93 hours (Cybertronian day)

Stellar-cycle: ~7.5 months (Cybertronian year)

_~All types of Bond Speech~_


	6. Playtime-MoRe LiKe StReSsFuL tImE, RaBaT

**All previous chapters have had an update since I've managed to flush more detailings about lore & the ageing process from when I'd originally started.**

**Also, NEW COVER! YESSS! Resonate's had a makeover and my baby is even more adorable now!**

**Chapter 6:** Playtime—MoRe LiKe StReSsFuL tImE, RaBaT

**o-o-o-o-o**

_~Ratbat, be careful!~_ Ravage stressed as the cyber-bat flew down the hallway with Resonate on his back.

"It's fine, Ravage!" Rabat responded cheerfully.

Resonate herself giggled, but it was obvious she was trying to stifle the sound if her trying to cover her mouth said anything.

"See! Little Beaut is enjoying the ride!" Ratbat laughed.

_~She's not laughing because she's enjoying the ride, you idiotic animal!~_ Ravage growled.

Rabat huffed. "How rude!" Then he promptly flew off, leaving behind an annoyed and now ropeable cyber-panther, who yelled over the bond to: _~Get back here, Ratbat!~_

Resonate keened nervously.

Rabat rumbled gently. "It's okay, Little Beaut. Ravage is just an overprotective kitty, if he used his helm, he'll know that I won't let ya get hurt." The words were accompanied with a flash of reassurances.

Resonate nodded. "Oh-kay."

**o-o-o-o-o**

**That's it, lol.**

**And yeah, 'Little Beaut' is Ratbat's nickname for Resonate XD**

**Also, my Ratbat **_**loooves**_** to stress others out. He should consider putting in his resume so people know what they're getting into.**


	7. Like Carrier or Like Creator

**Chapter 7:** Like Carrier or Like Creator?

**o-o-o-o-o**

"I am curious about whether Resonate will take after you or Influx when it comes to her alternates." Shockwave voiced, it was a topic that had been eating at his processor since he'd met the sparkling.

Soundwave turned to face him. "Resonate's alt-form capability: currently unknown."

"You believe she will have more than one?" Megatron asked with a tilt of his helm.

"Affirmative. Soundwave has… an unknown amount—" was that a slight hint of amusement? "—and Influx had been a triple-changer."

"Wait a moment." Starscream interrupted. "What do you mean Influx was a triple?"

Thundercracker snorted, shooting his Trine leader a look. "Influx had both a ground and flight frame, Star."

Starscream just stared at him for a moment. "Why wasn't I aware of this?"

"I thought you _were_." Thundercracker continued, tone dry.

"Whether Starscream was aware or not, is not the topic of this conversation." Shockwave hinted.

"Right." Megatron's lips twitched upwards, he glanced towards Skywarp and Resonate, the former throwing the latter up into the air, where she was giggling each time. She seemed comfortable within the air—even for that minute amount of time. "The likelihood of the femmeling having more than one is practically guaranteed, yes?"

They all followed his gaze to the purple seeker and femmeling.

"Yes." Shockwave confirmed. "But whether she has a ground and flight frame can be up to debate. There are some who have two ground forms, or two flight frames."

"Influx: born grounder." Soundwave informed. "Soundwave: grounder. Likelihood of Resonate having two flight frames: minimal."

"Well, that answers _that_." Starscream added offhandedly.

"So, we can assume that the sparklet will have a ground and flight frame—can we leave it at that?" Thundercracker asked—this entire conversation was all based upon genetics and probabilities that won't be revealed until her youngling frame, and she was far from that with another ninety stellar-cycles to go.

Shockwave turned to him, probably knowing what the blue seeker was trying to do. He let out a quiet vent. "As you wish."

The squealing of laughter made the group all turn their attention back to the Seeker and femmeling to see that Frenzy had latched onto Skywarp's back in an attempt to scale him. The Seeker had taken on the role of the 'bad guy' with Frenzy acting as the good and trying to rescue the damsel in giggles—_distress_—they meant distress.

Resonate was wiggling in Skywarp's grip—she wasn't going very far, she was tiny and 'Warp was very much larger than her—in some vain attempt to escape, clicking and chirring out to Frenzy. Rumble gave a war cry of his own suddenly and charged. Skywarp _yelp _at the attempted tackle, stumbling as Rumble managed to knock him slightly off balance.

Then Ratbat appeared, swooping slow and cawing slightly as he got close to Resonate who in turn chirrup back at him. Then when Skywarp had his attention on Rumble and Frenzy, Resonate stood within his servos.

As Ratbat came by for another fly, Resonate leapt from Skywarp's servo—and _oh Primus, she was falling._

Soundwave went to rush forward, his spark pulsing in momentary terror before realising that Ratbat had timed his swoop so that she'd fall onto his back. His frame sagging in relief, the others doing something just as similar.

Resonate's giggling continued, unaware of the slight horror that the adults had felt when she'd jumped.

"I think I was about to have a sparkattack." Starscream rasped, servo coming to rest above said spark.

"You are not the only one." Shockwave agreed. The others all murmured in agreements.

Ratbat flew their way, or more appropriately towards Soundwave, where the mech snatched his femmeling from Ratbat's back. She cooed up at him, grinning away, completely unaware of what she'd just caused.

Soundwave rested her against his chassis, stroking a digit along her helm. Her optic lids drooped at the feeling, a soft purr escaping.

_~Please reframe from leaping from any servo's again, even if there is another to catch you_~ his spark voiced.

Resonate blinked, optical ridge furrowing. _~I bad?~_

_~No~_ He sent over a pulse of reassurance at her unsurety and worry. _~What you did was risky, what would have happened had Ratbat not caught you?~_

He watched the realisation flicker onto her face-plate. _~Sowie~_

_~Do not feel the need to apologise, just realise that sometimes your actions have consequences, my femmeling~_ Soundwave assured.

_~Okie~_ she nodded, nuzzling his chassis. _~I do better next time!~_

"I think Resonate's likely going to have a flight frame." Starscream murmured. "I mean did you see the way she just jumped? Only seekerlets do slag like _that_."

Soundwave suddenly found himself repressing a groan.

**o-o-o-o-o**

_~Bond speech~_


	8. Music

**The real plot's gonna start next chapter :D****, which means we'll be leaving Cybertron behind for Earth!**

**Chapter 8:** Music

**o-o-o-o-o**

Partly curled up in her gifted red blanket, Resonate sat between Rumble and Frenzy as they pulled things that they had retained from their time with Influx from their subspace. It consisted of photos, books, old toys, some of Influx's belongings like her old gaming datapad.

Resonate found herself cooing at they slowly flicked through the photobook. There was a young Influx stood beside an equally as young mech. He looked a bit shy and surprised, like he'd not been expecting the photo. However, it wasn't the image itself that caught her attention, no, it was the red and blue mech.

She quickly pointed at the mech as Frenzy went to turn the page.

"Uh? What's that matter, Bubs?" Rumble asked.

"Him?" They flicked the page back to see who she was referring to and paused.

"He was Influx's… best friend." Frenzy explained after the brothers shared a nervous look—unsure if they really wanted to explain.

Resonate absorbed the information, he looked familiar, like she'd seen him before but… taller? Her brows furrowed as she tried to recall where she'd seen him.

"What's up, Re?" Frenzy questioned.

"Familiar?" It came out more like a question than anything, but it was enough to make the twins realise that Influx had been with the Autobots when Resonate had been born, so that meant she'd likely had some sort of contact with the mech.

They shared another look. "His designation is Orion Pax."

…better safe than sorry, right?

She nodded. "Okie, 'Rion."

They flicked to the next one, then the next, and the next. A few times Resonate would pipe up, curious about a mech or femme in the photo but none she expressed any familiarity towards.

That was until they reached a photo with Influx, the twins, Ravage, Orion, Megatron, and Soundwave. She squealed excitedly, tapping at the photo. The twins laughed. "You!"

"Yeah, it's us." Rumble grinned.

The next one was of a grumpy Ravage who looked recharged deprived—Frenzy remembered taking _that_ photo. Resonate giggled again because photo Ravage was shooting Frenzy a _I'm-going-to-kill-you_ look.

The next was labelled 'first date' and it was of Influx and Soundwave. It showed the height differences between them, Influx had only some up to Soundwave's shoulders, but they were both smiling happily. Resonate cooed sadly.

The twins gently purred in response, she cheeped in return.

They continued onwards until a photo of a white and orange mech and soft coral pink femme with Influx had Resonate tap the photo. "Her 'Cee."

Resonate could easily recall the bright pink femme, she'd spent a lot of time with the nurse when her carrier had been busy. The white and orange mech looked familiar too but his designation was just out of her grasp.

"Y-Yeah." Rumble stumbled over the word, surprised. "That's Arcee."

"'Rcee." Resonate tried to mimic. "Who him? Look familiar too."

"His designation is… Ratchet."

Primus, they couldn't believe they were doing this but what would the harm actually be? Nothing. It was so unlikely she'd ever actually see them again, and on the off chance they _did_, the Autobots wouldn't harm her.

Soon enough they finished the photobook, of course, there were more than one, but they thought it best to… leave those for another time. Instead, they pulled out some of Influx's old music tapes, to which Resonate's attention was immediately drawn towards.

"This?" she asked.

"There music tapes, Bubs." Rumble answered. "Carrier loved music; she had an entire cupboard of them!"

Resonate giggled. "Play?"

The twins shared a grin. "Sure, and since you've seemed to take after Soundwave, you can play them without any music player needed!"

Resonate blinked owlishly up at him before gesturing to the piece on her chassis. "This?"

"Yep!" Rumble reached forward as Resonate opened it, allowing him to drop the tape in. She closed it again and stuck out her glossa in concentration, then suddenly it began to play, and she gasped.

It was Blues, and the melody was soothing but slightly, not too much, upbeat—Resonate found herself humming along. It was calming for her to listen too—she could understand why her carrier liked music so much if this was only one type!

The twins smiled at the awed look on their sister's face and once the song ended, if she just so happened to demand another, well they were more than willing to provide.


	9. Evac

**It's been a long while, but I got stuck on how I wanted this to go. Still not completely pleased but I might come back later to add to it.**

**Chapter 9:** Evac

**o-o-o-o-o**

The deck was hectic with Decepticons flittering around the _Nemesis_, a large sighting of Autobots had been spotted by an old but still intact launchpad—it was suspected they were planning to leave Cybertron.

It was nothing more than a barren wasteland in most places now, Energon was running low, and staying on Cybertron was more of a death sentence. There were just too many mouths to feed and while some were being send-off world to hunt for Energon, Megatron's crew would not.

They would be following _Teletraan 1_—Optimus Prime's ship—for their hunt for the All-Spark.

"Everyone counted for?" Megatron asked as soon as he, Starscream, and Soundwave arrived on deck.

"Every bot listed for the Nemesis has signed in, my liege." Skywarp reported, turning back to his terminal.

"Good." He nodded before turning to Soundwave. "Any sighting of the Autobots?"

"Negative." Soundwave answered. "All activity has been within the launchpad's building itself. None have departed from the building in an orn. Lazerbeak has confirmed their go ahead with the launch of _Teletraan 1_."

Megatron nodded. "Excellent."

**o-o-o-o-o**

From within her space in Soundwave's sparkling hold, Resonate yawned and stretched, quite content with continuing to doze within the warm hold. Her brothers were safely stored just above her and knowing that her creator wouldn't allow any harm to come to them, she could freely continue to pursue her desire for recharge.

Though she was curious about where they'd be going, it made her a bit jittery with nervousness. She'd never been within a space-ship before, let alone actually been within the vast cosmos that surrounded their planet.

The gentle reassurance from her creator and brothers helped ease the feeling, saying they'd be safe and that there was nothing to worry about.

(Within the near future, and distant one, her brothers would think back to this moment and feel this deep painful ache at knowing they'd technically lied her; knowing this was what would cause her fear of the vast cosmos for a long time to come.)

She could faintly hear the chatter outside the hold, her creator keeping the panel open just the tiniest bit to allow her to listen in. She listened as the familiar voices of Skywarp, Starscream, Barricade, and several others all conversed, speaking technical in regard to the ship. She didn't understand a lot of it, that sort of thing was way over her helm, but she listened regardless. She was a little bored.

When liftoff finally arrived, Soundwave closed the panel completely for Resonate's safety to which she pouted at. But as the Nemesis left the ground below, she couldn't help the strike of nervousness that made itself known again.

The soft humming from the bonds dampened the emotion, smothering her in a successful attempt to ease her.

It wasn't long before the _Nemesis_ caught sight of _Teletraan 1 _on its sensors and took after it, making sure to leave a distance behind as to not alert them of their presences.

**o-o-o-o-o**

While sometimes things go your way, it doesn't always stay like that. This time it just happened to be _Teletraan 1_ picking up the signal of the _Nemesis_.

It started as just like every other solar-cycle, Resonate had finished her morning energon and Rumble was already pawing at her playfully, grinning as she giggled. Mornings were Resonate's typical hyper joors, the energy built up from her recharge making itself known plenty.

It often led to the siblings getting together to try and wear Resonate out, especially now she was held up within certain areas of the _Nemesis_ during most of the solar-cycle.

Ratbat bumped into her and it sent them tumbling, both giggling cheerfully.

The mornings typical resulted in play fighting, they'd found it the most efficient way to burn excess energy, they knew limits and how far to take it, especially with Resonate.

When their playing came to an end, they were often left cuddled together in a dog-pile of sorts.

By the time it came to Resonate's next meal, she was about ready for a nap to which she'd taken to curling up within Soundwave's hold—his sparkling hold was located behind the cassette player door, just below where he stored her brothers, the hold had two door panels in response, the outer see-through one and an inner metal panel.

Most often he left the inner one open so that Resonate could see out, it was an extra piece of protection since the outer one was made of glass and more breakable. He'd rarely close the secondary one unless it was for Resonate's safety.

After Resaonte's afternoon nap ended, she was back to her twin brothers' care, where they'd play some videogames they'd managed to keep hold of since before the war. It had formerly belonged to Influx.

The games were pretty basic ones, first-person shooter, mini-games and the lot.

It was during the middle of a game of Guess Who that the ship rocked jarringly. Resonate yelped, optics widening with fear. Rumble wrapped her up in the red blanket.

"Shh, it's okay Bubba."

_~Rumble, Frenzy: Bring Resonate to the bridge immediately~_

_~Creator?~_ Frenzy questioned and the brothers shared a confused look but began to stand.

_~Come~_ It was firm this time.

Whatever was happening wasn't good. So, swooping his sister into his arms, Rumble and Frenzy made for the exit.

There was another rock of the ship and they both realised in that moment that everything was _not_ okay. Resonate's quiet whimper from under her blanket had them speeding up.

Soundwave met them outside the main bridge, where several bots entered and exited in a hurry.

_~Soundwave, what's happening?~_ Rumble questioned, unable to bring himself to physically ask with Resonate in his arms.

Another more jarring rock of the ship hit them, Soundwave reached forward, grasping both Frenzy and Rumble by the shoulders as they stumbled.

"Nemesis: detected." Soundwave answered.

Oh, no.

"Follow me." Soundwave turned, the twin mechs shared another look but ultimately followed him. They were walking for a breem at most, having gone down three levels in the elevator before arriving in the escape pod deck.

A flicker of realisation at what they might be doing hit them and it made them nervous. "Soundwave?" Frenzy questioned. Resonate wiggled within Rumble's grip and he rumbled in an attempt to get her to stop. She responded with a confused chirp that teetered on scared, her creator and brothers weren't telling her anything and their bonds were dampened too.

The communications officer turned to them and knelt. "Megatron wishes to engage with the Autobots. We are unsure of what the outcome may be, we believed it wise to jettison her in the case of an emergency. You both will stay here with her waiting for the signal for a possible launch. Understood?"

Their optics widened. "W-What!? You can't be ser—"

"Frenzy. Rumble" Soundwave interrupted; his tone of voice firm and leaving no room for debate. "The chance of having to eject the pod is less than twenty percent. We just wish to be cautious."

The brothers shared another look, Rumble sighed. "Okay. Okay."

Resonate confused chirp as she managed to pull the blanket off her helm made all three turn their optics onto her. "Creator? What happening?"

Soundwave took her from Rumble, holding her against his chassis. "The Autobot's ship has detected us, we are unsure of what they may plan to do. We do not want you in harm's way, you understand?"

Resonate frowned but nodded, she didn't understand why the Autobots would do anything or what they wanted with them, but she trusted her creator. "Okay."

"You must listen to Rumble and Frenzy, yes? They are protecting you, and you might not like what happens, but you mustn't fight them."

Resonate gave a nervous chirp, reaching up to grasp her creator's mouth guard, tugging his helm down. Soundwave rumbled, allowing his creation to pull his helm, where he retracted the guard and placed a kiss to her helm.

"You understand, sweetspark?"

She nodded. "Ah undahstand."

Resonate was returned to Rumble's arm, and Soundwave glanced to the twins. "Keep yourselves safe, understood?"

"Understood, Creator."

Soundwave left with a burst of affection aimed at all three.

There was another jarring rock of the ship and Resonate buried her face into Rumble's neck in an attempt to hide from the harsh and scary movement.

It was only a breem later when they got the dreaded order.

_~Rumble, Frenzy~_ Just Soundwave's voice alone keyed them into what they were going to have to do. It left dread twisting inside their sparks.

_~Creator?~_ Frenzy's voice trembled over the bond. Soundwave didn't like this as much as them, but another even harsher and more serious rock of the ship hit.

_~Do it~_ Soundwave ordered.

Instead of answering, the twins just sent their understanding. Rumble adjusted his grip on Resonate as Frenzy opened the pod.

"What happening now?" Resonate questioned as she was set into the pod, she glanced between them, pure confusion on her face.

"We're… we're jettisoning you into space, Bubs. For your safety." Frenzy answered, struggling to get the words out. "We'll find you soon, okay? Just hang on tight until we come and get you, yeah?"

Frenzy forced a grin in an attempt to make sure not to worry Resonate any more than just her confusion. Their sister's nod gave them relief. "How long?"

It was Rumble that answered, knowing what type of pod this was. "Not too long, okay? It'll be almost like only a joor has passed before we see each other again, okay?" Rumbled grinned also, trying to keep the act up.

Resonate cheeped wordlessly in response as she nodded.

Rumble finished strapping her in as another rock of the ship hit, he stumbled into the side of the pod. Frenzy had to stabilise his twin.

They climbed out once Resonate was completely and safely locked into the harness. It was a bit big, considering it was meant for adult frames but they'd managed to tighten it enough to make sure she wasn't jolted too much.

"We'll see you soon, Re." Rumble smiled and Frenzy nodded, adding his own parting before they hit the launch button. The door slammed closed and then the pod was gone.

They took a moment to just let out a shaky vent in disbelief. Wondering if that really just happened.

"She's safe." Rumble murmured into an attempt to sooth their worry and unease, it didn't work very well. Frenzy nodded wordlessly.

They swiftly left the bay, headed for the fight.

**o-o-o-o-o**

Resonate's optics searched her surroundings, a weak and scared warbled escaped as she felt the distance between herself and her family get longer and longer. Sharp inhales and vents followed as she began to work herself up into a panic.

She warbled louder, but that quickly became a screech as the pod was jolted, only it was far, far, far worst then the bigger ship's had been. She cried out, desperately reaching out for her creator but he was too far and the panic only worsened when a voice began speaking.

'_Stasis __commencing__ in one klik.'_

There was a bad jolt and Resonate's helm bashed against the helmrest hard. She screamed, servos immediately grabbing the painful dent.

'_Stasis initiating.'_

And Resonate knew no more.

**o-o-o-o-o**

**Orn: 13 days (~4 solar-cycles)**

**Joor: ~1 hour**

**Breem: ~8.3 minutes**


	10. Found

**From now on, **"Talking"** is English while **_"Talking" _**is Cybertronian.**

**o-o-o-o-o**

**Chapter 10:** Found

**o-o-o-o-o**

"This is the location, Prime." Ironhide pulled to a stop, followed shortly by Optimus Prime and Ratchet. They transformed into their bi-pedal forms and their optics scanned the area, searching for the source of the signal.

The signal had popped up after an earthquake last Earth night cycle. Red Alert had rushed to the Prime, who'd been working at the time, to inform him of the signal, having completely forgotten about his comm.

(Ratchet had promptly sent the paranoid mech off to recharge after that.)

It was agreed that seeing as the signal was from an escape pod, then someone must be inside. Ratchet, worrying that someone inside might be suffering from injury had insisted to accompany them. Ironhide was the final Autobot chosen to accompany the pair to the signal.

Which was how they got here.

It seemed the pod was buried until some rocks—it left Ratchet frowning because that meant it had to have been there for a _long_ time. It had him antsy with worry. They worked, shooting at the rock to uncover the pod, Ratchet felt relieved the tiniest bit when he saw that it was a stasis pod, likelihood of the bot inside surviving was guaranteed unless something went wrong with the systems, but if it sent out a signal to be discovered, then it should still be in good condition.

Ratchet knelt before the pod once they pulled it from its hiding spot. He fiddled with the wires underneath a panel to open the pod. The door opened with a hiss, revealing a dark inside and Ratchet peered inside to first see a large red blanket. He squinted his optics, only for them to widened as he saw who—or what exactly was inside the pod.

He glanced over at Optimus in shock, unable to produce a sound.

"Ratchet?" Optimus questioned, worry forming on his faceplate.

"Sparkling." He answered after several attempts to just say the word.

Ironhide's knees nearly gave out under his weight. "A—a _sparkling_?!"

Ratchet turned back to the sparkling, reaching inside the pod and tugged the neatly tucked blanket away in order to unstrap her. At the back of his processor, the red blanket made a twang in his memory bank, but he pushed that off for now, his main concern was the femmeling. He used the blanket to wrap the sparkling up again as he lifted her from the pod.

A soft orange glow of her optics flickered to life as he'd started unstrapping her. A yawn followed, and then a blink; she was hardly even online, looking like she could easily drop off back into recharge any moment.

Ratchet set her against his chassis, and she snuggled closer. The medic then turned to the silent and eagerly waiting duo behind him, allowing them to see the sparkling.

"Primus." Optimus murmured, look closer at the sparkling curiously. He then turned his attention to their surroundings. "It would be best we return to base; it would be unsafe for the femmeling if the Decepticons had also picked the signal up and are headed here."

Ironhide grunted, his disbelief still visible on his faceplate, even as he'd managed to get a hold of himself.

The femmeling against Ratchet's chassis frowned in confusion, she chirped as she pushed her helm up. She glanced around, she… she didn't recognise where she was. Her helm hurt, and she knew she should know what had happened but for the life of her she couldn't.

She squirmed in Ratchet's hold suddenly as a feeling inside her chest burst to life, it reached for her with an overwhelming number of emotions. It was followed by others, it left her disorientated and she blinked, cheeping at the feeling then shook her helm but grimaced.

A servo reached up to the bump. Ratchet hummed, seeing the action. He ran a digit along her neck struts.

The feeling tugged and she squirmed and searched the area for the strange feeling. She reached hesitantly for the feeling in return. It curled around her and she purred.

The purr paused the Autobots' walking.

"Bond?" Ironhide questioned, tense.

Ratchet vented and nodded. "They seem to be reaching for her, they must be on…" Horrified realization flickered onto all three faceplates. "Planet."

"Let us hurry." Optimus ordered and they transformed, headed for base.

Resonate chirped in confusion and squirmed in the seat, not understanding why the feeling suddenly lurched, taking on an angry tone but despite the anger, she knew it wasn't meant for her. She tilted her helm and tried to recall what had happened last, her helm really hurt when she tried to do that. So she settled with rubbing the spot and not doing so.

Whoever it was that was reaching for her could come to her if they wanted her. She would tell them, but she didn't know where she was. The ground seemed weird—she'd never seen such colours before, she knew that at least.

**o-o-o-o-o**

Ratchet didn't stop once they'd arrived at base, instead headed straight for his med-bay—he'd leave the explanation to the Prime. The sparkling had curled up in her blanket to recharge not too long after they'd set off for the return journey, it helped tell Ratchet that she likely didn't have any serious issues, but the dent in her helm was a bit worry. She was visibly confused when she'd awoken—that was normal for any bot coming out of stasis (especially after who knows how long) but she seemed confused at the feeling of her bond which left Ratchet thinking she'd suffered from amnesia.

Whether it was temporary or not he wasn't sure, he hoped it wasn't, for everyone's sake.

He transformed once he arrived and set the sparkling on the berth and got to work with scans. The deeper scan of her helm showed no lasting damage thankfully, so it seemed it was likely stasis amnesia that was affecting her.

Ratchet patched her helm and began working on converting energon into some low-grade for when she woke up.

Arcee came rushing into the med-bay a joor later, optics wide in disbelief. "Is it true?"

Ratchet nodded his helm toward the recharging femmeling. Arcee approached and cooed down her, she brushed a digit along her helm.

Not a moment later, Optimus, Prowl, and Jazz came walking inside. At their feet was Lennox and Epps.

Arcee looked up from her cooing at their arrival, she looked slightly sheepish to which Jazz grinned at her for before peering down at the sparkling. "Primus."

"She's tiny." Epps commented after he and Lennox had been set onto the berth by Prowl.

"That is typical of sparklings." Prowl answered. "How old is she, Ratchet?"

"Twelve stellar-cycles at best."

Arcee keened softly in horror. There was a look of horror on all their faceplates in fact.

"Stellar-cycles?" Lennox questioned. "What would that be in human terms?"

"A single stellar-cycle is approximately seven earthen months, but our years are varsity different from yours. She's… sparklings are classed as such for one hundred stellar-cycles, but we have days which are ninety-three hours long; an orbital-cycle, a month, which is twenty-four solar-cycles. We have fifty-four solar-cycles in a year. But if we went by your years, she's roughly sixish but our cycle of life doesn't correlate well to yours, Will." Ratchet explained. "So, it's difficult, siz is a roundup, but I am possibly wrong."

"So, she's really young?" Epps added.

"That is correct." Prowl nodded.

"Hundred stellar-cycles, and she'd only twelve of them—" Will grimaced, looking pale.

"How is she?" Optimus turned his attention to Ratchet.

"I believe she has stasis amnesia; it should resolve itself soon. Typically, within a solar-cycle or two." Ratchet answered.

"And parentage?"

"I haven't started that process yet. But." His optics turned back to the sparkling, like he already— "I have a theory of who she might be."

"Well, let's hear it then." Jazz piped up from his stop beside Arcee, the two had been quiet cooing over the little one.

Ratchet met Optimus's optics instead of answering Jazz. "Do you recognise her?"

Optimus turned to the femmeling, something in his memory bank seemed to wiggle but he couldn't tell what exactly was causing it. He shook his head. "The femmeling seems familiar however."

Ratchet vented heavily and then pulled the red blanket from his subspace. "What about _this_?"

Optimus reached for and immediately spotted the name scribbled onto the label. "Ah." But then, his spark flared with hope. "Resonate?"

Ratchet nodded.

Arcee's helm snapped up at the name. "Resonate?!" She demanded; optics wide. "You think—!"

Her optics burned as silence filled the room, she gripped the edge of the berth to support herself.

"Resonate?" Lennox questioned softly when he noticed how Arcee was crying—like someone who'd just rediscovered a long-time dear friend.

"Resonate was the designation of the sparkling of an Autobot femme named Influx." Jazz stated; voice tight. His optics turned to Optimus; the Prime stared down at Resonate with sorrow. "Influx was offlined during an attack on a base back on Cybertron. Resonate had gone missing after, we believe her sister, Hexen, had run off with her."

"Then where's this Hexen now?" Epps questioned.

"She was confirmed deceased three stellar-cycles afterwards." Prowl pursed his lips. "We had no idea what happened to Resonate."

"Right, then who's the father?" Lennox asked.

Silence.

"You guys think she's been with him?" Arcee pipped up quietly, voice quivering at the idea.

"Yes." Optimus nodded. It surprised the others at the surety of his answer.

"You sound sure." Prowl frowned.

Optimus dipped his chin. "Call it a gut instinctive, Prowl. Plus, Soundwave might be a fearsome mech, but he does care about his cassettes, and he cared about Influx, and I have no doubt that he loves Resonate also."

"Wait, wait, _wait_." Epps interrupted. "You think her dad's _Soundwave_?"

"I do not think so, Epps, I _know_ her creator is Soundwave." Optimus affirmed. "I knew Influx since we were sparkling ourselves, Megatron and I _introduced_ Soundwave to Influx long before the war, where they bonded. I was also there for Resonate's birth."

The humans looked up at him in surprise. Lennox eyed Resonate for a moment before commenting. "I can see the similarities."

Arcee tittered softly but her attention, as well as everyone else's, was drawn to Resonate as she stirred. Orange optics flickered on and a yawn escaped as she reached up, pushing her visor up to rub her optics. Her servos lowered as she blinked, confusion formed as she was met with unfamiliar faces.

"_Huh?"_ She sat up and glanced around curiously. _"Where?" _

"_You are on a planet designated Earth, little one."_ Arcee answered. Resonate peered up at Arcee, optics seemingly searching for something, but she frowned instead. Her attention quickly scanning the entire room, where was her creator? However, she was distracted by the tiny strange creatures. She shuddered her optics in confusion.

"_What they?"_

"_They are humans, the dominant species that resides on this planet."_ Prowl answered.

Resonate pushed herself onto her feet, revealing she was ahead or so shorter than both. _"Why they so small?"_

Arcee and Jazz laughed.

"What is she saying?" Epps asked.

"She's questioning why you are so small." Arcee said; Epps snickered.

"Is she not able to understand us then?" Lennox questioned. "You guys managed to learn our language easily."

"She's far too young." Ratchet explained, waving a servo. "She'll be able to learn your language naturally like you would another on earth. Her systems are not yet able to handle such a module that allows instant knowledge of another language yet."

"So, we get to teach her English?" Epps grinned.

Jazz nodded, a grin of his own on his faceplate. "She'll likely pick it up quickly because of her CNA."

"That's like DNA, right? Like she's inherited abilities from her parents?"

"That is correct." Ratchet nodded.

**o-o-o-o-o**

It was a joor later, once Resonate had drunk her energon that she finally asked Ratchet and Arcee where Soundwave was. _"Where creator?"_

Ratchet paused at his desk, Arcee clucked her datapad to her chassis.

There had been talk about… about contacting the 'Cons. No doubt they'd launch an attack once they realise that it was the Autobots who had Resonate. But it was questioned on how Resonate was treated and if they should return her. However, Resonate showed no injuries that could have been given through abuse of any sort—accidents sure, but nothing serious.

Ratchet and Arcee had seen her tanks, scarring from not having the right grade was easy to spot but the healing was complete, and she hadn't had any non-low-grade in a long time from the looks of the scars.

Optimus knew their answer already; they couldn't willing keep Resonate here. She would suffer from bond withdraw in time (how long they couldn't be sure as she'd been in stasis a long time) and it would be painful for her.

Being far from their creator or carrier wasn't meant to be anytime long term—nothing more than several solar-cycles at minimum. The bonds were there to help sparklings and younglings grow and mature.

It was _unethical_.

They would fight to return Resonate back to Soundwave even if it meant others would lose their trust in them—they were a doctor and nurse, it was part of their programming to heal and make sure nothing harms their patients and keeping Resonate here? It would cause severe harm to her then do good.

They only hoped others came to their senses also.

**o-o-o-o-o**

When they awoke on this planet three years ago, it was a jarring change. But immediately the family unit was hit with the harsh realisation that Resonate was who knows where.

She was alive—they would feel it. She was still within the stasis pod and had been sleeping as long as they had been—and still was. But they had no idea where she could possibly be, Soundwave couldn't track a muted bond of someone in stasis.

So, they searched—all the Decepticons worked to try and locate the pod when they could but they got nowhere and after three years on this organic world, they were beginning to lose some hope of ever finding her.

Then the earthquake hit and just like that, the pod's signal came online.

It was a miracle by Primus himself.

Soundwave with the assistance of Thundercracker and Megatron, headed for the locations as soon as they'd picked up the signal but once they arrived, to the pod unburied and already open, they knew the Autobots had beat them to her.

Soundwave let out a harsh vent of air in controlled fury. His cassettes also expressed their anger and annoyance via their bonds. Ravage was released and he sniffled at the interior to catch her scene. His ears perked up as he did.

_~I've got it~_

"Follow it then." Megatron ordered, seeing Ravage's reaction. "No doubt she'd within the Autobots base. It would give us a reason to attack them."

Ravage nodded. _~You wish for me to sneak in, Soundwave?~_

_~Affirmative, locate Resonate if possibly but remain hidden~_

"Autobots wouldn't willing to keep her with them if they know she'd got a bond with you, right?" Thundercrack questioned, arms crossing as a frown made itself know on his faceplate.

It was Megatron who answered, tilting his head. "I don't believe Optimus would, nor his medic. But the others would likely try to keep her there, no doubt."

Soundwave vented quietly. "Autobots: likely to contact us in regard to Resonate."

His insides were boiling with anger, he wanted to punch something, _break_ something, but he reframed from doing such, it would get him nowhere closer to Resonate. He had to only be a bit _more_ patient. She'd be back with them soon. Whether the Autobots agreed or not.

**o-o-o-o-o**

**Yes, NEST will be a thing in this story, and they'll have a big part in this in regards to helping Resonate adjust.**


End file.
